Disability and Critical Illness Insurance: Which One Will Suit Me Better?

Income-replacement insurance, as disability insurance is often called, provides the insured with a regular monthly payment in case he/she ever should become disabled and unable to operate in a normal occupation in a manner defined in the policy.

These are the most common 3 categories of disability insurance:

Any Occupation
Under this definition, total disability occurs when you are is able to work at absolutely no occupation whatsoever. For that reason if you are employed as a scuba-diving instructor, and your disability prevents you from performing your normal work tasks, but you can still gainfully work as a night guard in a local dépanneur -- you will not receive your benefit from your insurer.

Regular Occupation
Total disability defined like this is your being unable to perform at your regular occupation due to injury or illness.

Own Occupation
This specific definition is the gold standard. Under this definition, total disability means your inability to work at your habitual position regardless if one works in another gainful way.

Ceteris paribus, the stricter the definition of disability, the higher one’s monthly premium. This makes sense as your insurance company has a more significant chance of compensating you upon your claim.

You can get extra information about disability insurance deals here.

As for Critical Illness insurance, it pays a lump sum in case the client is found to have a critical illness covered by the policy. The number of critical illnesses range from as few as 3 to twenty-five. The definitions do not vary greatly among insurance companies greatly. However, it is generally best to get in contact with an independent broker who works with multiple insurers.

The other difference is that Critical Illness payouts are not tied to your ability to perform work and the monthly payments are generally level for 10 years, 20 years, to age 75 or age 100 respectively. The longer the premium guarantee period, the higher the initial premium.

If you are looking for more details, you can contact us at 1-866-899-4849, or visit our Disability Insurance Quote Page and our Critical Illness Insurance Quote Page.